McCann says Harkin’s the man as People Before Profit contest Foyle for first time in seven years

Staff Reporter

Published:17:12Monday 08 May 2017

Eamonn McCann has described Shaun Harkin as the only candidate capable of delivering a progressive radical message to Westminster as the People Before Profit Alliance prepares to contest its first General Election in Foyle in seven years.

The veteran campaigner, who received 2,936 votes (7.8 per cent of the poll) in 2010 and 1,649 (3.6 per cent of the poll) when he ran for the Socialist Environmental Alliance (SEA) five years earlier, said: “Only S​haun​ Harkin and People Before Profit offer a clear way forward for Foyle.”

He made the comments ahead of an election rally in The Playhouse on Wednesday.

He said: “We stand for a fight for working-class interests in Ireland, North and South. We reject the notion that we have to choose between the savage austerity measures of the Tories and the savage austerity measures of the EU.

“Alone among the Foyle candidates, S​haun​ has been a fighter against the bedroom tax waved through last year by the DUP and Sinn Féin, a fighter for a woman’s right to choose, a for an end to the payoffs in the public sector imposed by the DUP/Sinn Féin Executive.”

Mr. ​McCann, who scored a major breakthrough for PBPA when elected to the Stormont Assembly in 2016 but lost his seat in a reduced constituency earlier this year, said Mr. Harkin would not go back on any promises if elected.

“Shaun ​will not be backing anti-working-class measures one day, denouncing the same measures next day. Unlike others, he doesn’t flip-flop.

“Derry needs an alternative to the opportunism of the Orange and Green parties which have dominated politics here. We need a consistent fighter for progressive radical politics to represent us at Westminster.

“Shaun​ Harkin is the only candidate who fits the bill,” he said.

Mr. McCann and Mr. Harkin will be joined by Dublin PBP Councillor Madeleine Johansson for an election rally in The Playhouse at 7pm on Wednesday.